


The Price

by Varalence



Series: Dusk and Dawn [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bittersweet, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:22:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27175151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varalence/pseuds/Varalence
Summary: What is the purpose of it all?
Series: Dusk and Dawn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984843
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	The Price

Winter had come to Vale again. The gentle white flakes drifted down from the gray skies, blanketing everything in a layer of white. On the island of Patch, young Ruby Rose sat on her porch, seemingly staring into infinity. Well she used to be young at least, but that was a time long past. She was only in her late 20s, but the toll of age was showing on her already. The last battle against Salem had taken everything she had and then some. Even a decade later, some wounds still don’t heal. In her final desperate attack against Salem, she had expended all her will and power, and when the dust settled, Ruby found herself still surrounded by darkness. All of her life and spirit went into her last attack that it had stolen the light from her eyes. The silver eyes that signaled hope to the world would shine no more. She sighs at the memory. So much had been lost that day. She remembered last seeing Jaune make a stand against the Grimm.

 _“Go! Find Salem, I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”_ The knight took his last stand to stop the Grimm from coming after them into the castle. She was told later that he was found dead, slumped against a tree and the broken blade of Crocea Mors at his side. A hero to the end. Yang told Ruby he died with a smile on his face. But she would never know if that was true. 

Then there was Ren and Nora. The experiences of the war broke them. Physically and mentally. Nora forced herself to ingest a near lethal amount of lightning dust to give herself enough strength to protect a gravely wounded Ren at the final battle. It was a decision that costed her dearly. Ruby still doesn’t know if she had regained complete function of her muscles. Ren’s own mind fractured when he found out what Nora did. The man who had lived through so much became a husk of who he once was. Doctors believed that Nora’s sacrifice triggered his childhood trauma all over again, but this time to a degree that was unprecedented. He now spends his days in a small cabin in Mistral, tending to Nora as best as he could but everyone could tell his spirit had long since departed.

Beyond them, there were more. So much more. Atlesian foot soldiers fell in droves, Entire hunter teams wiped out, the image of Coco crying over Velvet’s broken camera, every single memory of that day was like a knife stabbed into her mind. Ruby choked back a sob that was building in her throat. So much was lost for the sake of her destiny. Even now she can’t help feel responsible for all that happened. Ozpin, now Oscar since his soul was finally able to depart after Salem’s defeat, tried to reassure Ruby that she was in no way responsible for their sacrifice. 

_“You bravely walked and faced a burden forced upon you by fate, and everyone made the choice themselves to stand with you. They were proud to have served with you Miss Rose, I am sure of it.”_

Even so, she couldn’t help but feel empty inside. 

_“What pride is there to be gained from dying?”_ She remembered asking Ozpin.

_“The pride of knowing that your efforts will outlive you. The hope that what you do now will extend far beyond this life. Every person who chose to go with you bore that hope with them, and it was that hope that had carried your victory.”_

Victory. It was a hollow one at best. In the long run, maybe. But to Ruby, it had stolen her life and the lives of others as she knew it. 

_“The human spirit is indomitable Ruby. Dreams and goals will become realized, even if it is not within your own lifetime. The beauty of it is that everything you do here will leave its mark even after you have long passed. People will one day look back on this moment as the day our fate changed for the better, and they will have you and all those who stood with you to thank for it.”_

Ozpin’s last words to her still echoed in her mind. 

_One day…_

“Hey Ruby, you done staring at the void?” Ruby turned around to the direction of the voice, and felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.

"Oh Yang, you’re up.” She said quietly. 

“Yeah, the cold’s a great alarm clock. Also I figured you were doing that thing again.” 

“Yeah.” Ruby replied turning away. “Sorry. The memories keep coming back.”

“I know, little sis.” Yang replied draping her arms over Ruby’s shoulders. Ruby gave a slight smile.

“After all this time, you still call me that.”

“It’s never gonna stop being true.” Yang chuckled. “Now come on, Weiss and Blake will be here soon, and I know they so desperately want to see you.”

_Weiss. Blake._

If there was ever immediate proof that the price was worth it, it was those two. After the war, Weiss initiated a complete takeover of the SDC, stripping Jacque of the reigns and appointing Blake as her COO. The pair spent the next few years undoing the damage from Jacque’s reign and rebranded the entire SDC and White Fang from the ground up. Their efforts in restoring human/Faunus relations were so impressive, they had been officially recognized for it by all 4 Kingdoms. Now the world was all the better for it with an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. With the Grimm no more people were free to live without the constant fear of death, and Ruby knew deep down that this would not have been possible without the efforts of her friends.

_Yes, maybe this was all worth it. Maybe._

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is just a blurb I wrote to tire myself out to sleep. Maybe I have an issue with rubullying. Eh whatever, sad stuff is fun to write.


End file.
